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Amazon’s advertising platform turns off customers…

February 20, 2020 by Joe Cannon Leave a Comment

It seems like we talk about Amazon a lot here at Teach the 4 Ps. For several reasons Amazon is a great class example. First, it is a brand that everyone knows and most of our students use on a regular basis. Second, they are at the leading edge of so many new marketing practices. Third, Amazon offers the opportunity for examples that reflect many marketing practices (and many chapters). Today, we are talking about Amazon the online retailer, as an advertising medium. After Google and Facebook, Amazon is growing fast as an advertiser. A Wall Street Journal article earlier this year pointed out that “54% of people looking for a product now begin their search directly on Amazon…” Search advertising has traditionally been Google’s sweet spot.

This article, “Ad Business a Boon for Amazon But a Turn-Off for Shoppers,” (November 26, 2019) points out that Amazon may need to be careful with all the advertising. Some customers are getting annoyed with the online retailer for serving up too many ads. Customers just want the product they are looking for–but they often have to search through many “sponsored posts” before they get there.

This article or example may be used in your marketing classroom in a number of ways. If Amazon wants to do well by customers, is this the right way? Is this customer-oriented behavior (Chapter 1)? An interesting counter-example might be drawn out by asking students if they have ever gone to Amazon looking for one thing, then seeing an ad for a competing product, and ended up buying the competing product. Was that information useful?

The question gets further muddled when the article also notes that ads like this might help Amazon deliver one-day service that customers love (Chapters 10 and 12). It also suggests changes in consumer behavior (Chapter 5). And then of course the article highlights how Amazon is becoming a new advertising medium (Chapter 15). Lots to potentially talk about here.

Filed Under: Advertising, Chapter 03, Chapter 05, Chapter 10, Chapter 12, Chapter 15, Competition, Consumer behavior

Some #M4BW examples for you…

December 3, 2019 by Joe Cannon Leave a Comment

As regular readers know, through this blog and the forthcoming 17th edition of Essentials of Marketing (publishing in February 2020) we have taken on the mission of highlighting organizations that are marketing for a better world (#M4BW).

Businesses are getting the message. McDonald’s has announced that it will soon buy all of its coffee from sources that meet international sustainability standards certified by Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance. Consumers are concerned about plastic containers—we throw away lots of plastic. Recently, Unilever, Procter & Gamble (P&G), Nestlé, Häagen-Dazs and PepsiCo began testing reusable containers for their products. PepsiCo will use refillable glass bottles for its Tropicana orange juice, and P&G will use aluminum bottles for its Pantene shampoo and stainless steel containers for Tide detergent. Products will be delivered to customers’ homes with empty packaging returned, cleaned, and refilled. For more see “The World’s Biggest Brands Want You to Refill Your Orange Juice and Deodorant,” Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2019; “McDonald’s Transitions to Sustainably Sourced Coffee,” brandchannel, October 12, 2016; “Beyond Sustainable: The Growing Demand for Ethical Fashion,” The Robin Report, April 3, 2018. These examples can be used when you cover sustainability (Chapter 3), packaging (Chapter 8) and reverse channels (Chapter 10).

Filed Under: #M4BW, Chapter 03, Chapter 08, Chapter 10, Sustainability

Delivering convenience and high quality meat from a vending machine

October 10, 2019 by Joe Cannon Leave a Comment

Students don’t often think about how Place and choice of distribution channel can differentiate a product or deliver value (often through convenience). And not too many of us think about vending machines as a channel of distribution for much more than snacks and soft drinks. That is why this example, where the Applestone Meat Co. offers self-serve vending machines stocked with vacuum-sealed packages of meat, including everything you might expect to buy at a high-end butcher shop: Porterhouse steaks, rack of lamb, sausages, and ground beef. You can read more, and perhaps clip an image to drop into your slides when you cover Place in Chapters, 10, 11 and 12.

As an aside, if you, like me, didn’t get the “Horn & Hardart” reference in the article’s title, check out this Wikipedia entry and learn a little history.

Filed Under: Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Place

University of the Pacific Welcomes Pepsi Snackbot to Campus

January 20, 2019 by Jon Firooz Leave a Comment

It’s the start of a new semester and the newest freshman at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA is Pepsi’s new Snackbot.  Developed in partnership with Robby Technologies, these self-driving robots will make snacks and beverages available to college students (and presumably staff!).  Pepsi envisions this new channel of distribution as a way of capitalizing on changes in student dining as packed schedules push students to quick, on-the-go options.  You can read more about this new project in Pepsi’s press release.

Filed Under: Chapter 05, Chapter 10, Chapter 11 Tagged With: dining, students

Amazon Reports Increased Streaming of NFL Games

December 5, 2018 by Jon Firooz Leave a Comment

MediaPost recently published this article reporting that Amazon’s viewership of live-streamed Thursday night NFL games is up 22% to 14.7M viewers so far this season.  For reference, this averages to ~2M streamers per game as compared to ~13M TV viewers per game.  These streams are differentiated from traditional TV broadcast by offering alternate audio commentary from an all-female duo.  Amazon is streaming these games on their Twitch platform which is primarily used for eSports streaming.  Amazon has already signed a deal with the NFL for streaming rights for the 2019 season.  This should represent a win-win for the NFL and Amazon.  For the NFL, this helps them stay relevant in an increasingly mobile viewing world and adding these viewers should help Amazon strengthen their Twitch platform and provides additional opportunity for new advertising revenue.

Sports marketing tends to be inherently popular with students but it might be worth talking about how this illustrates distribution channel strategy.  While we often think about the channel in terms of retailers, wholesalers, and warehousing, channel decisions apply just as much to digital services as they do to physical goods.

Filed Under: Chapter 10, Chapter 11 Tagged With: Sports

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